Cambodian culture promotes working together for the common good. Traffic patterns are such that one is the safest if you move along with others. It isn’t such a good idea to insert your own independence, even if you are in the right. Many generations in one family live together, the younger ones providing for the older ones, while the older ones care for the children. In school, this means students work together, with often the brightest ones helping those that are weaker.
In each of my classes, I have a class leader. I have seen how he or she takes care of his classmates. If a classmate is late with an assignment, it is he that comes to me and asks how his fellow classmate will be graded. He turns in the late work. When I turn back work, everyone compares their grades. Inwardly I cringe at this – because I think about the problems this can cause in the US, both interpersonal and legal. But they all seem to rejoice in each other’s success, and quite frankly, laugh together at some of the comments I have given them on their work.
I am assigning a variety of written work this semester. While I have encouraged the students to talk about their labs and their conclusions, I have said at nearly every lab session that I want the writing to be their own. And I have promised not to grade grammar. As I collected their first lab reports, I could see that this message really didn’t sink in. I could group the papers into pretty much 3 or 4 piles, within each, the writing was identical. Corruption is certainly a part of the educational system, where it is fine for students to copy from each other and even talk aloud to each other during an exam. Grades can sometimes be bought. In my class, the impetus for copying each other’s work is even greater. I’ve asked them to write in English, and some of them have far better skills than others.
But I keep thinking, am I wrong to grade harshly those who have worked so closely together? In the long run, will this change how the students value community – something that is so different than our individualism in the west and frankly, quite refreshing. Is it really right for me to expect students to work alone? Are they better served working together?
My course in green chemistry is not conceptually difficult. In fact, the content is much simpler than what I’ve seen in student notebooks from some of their other courses. But one of my main goals is to teach them to think critically, and evaluate data and experiments, not just memorize facts. I want each of them to learn these skills, so I ask them to write their own papers. But I’m not sure I’m doing it right.
Both team work and individual work are important skills, neither of which are purely western concepts. To teach both of these would not impose western culture on students, regardless of how contrary it may be to their current educational system. If students are to truly benefit from education, they must personally learn. If students are not personally held accountable to learn, how do you know knowledge was in fact transferred? How do you know if they gained new and important knowledge and skills? Of course things must be kept in perspective. You will not change their entire educational system in one year-grin. However, to require personal accountability for learning can only help students in the long run because they gain skills to better themselves, and their country. Might this actually be part of your ministry over there?
ReplyDeleteAntony
Hi Roseann,
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely a dilemma. I certainly value individual achievement in academia, but part of me also says cooperation in science is not a bad thing. At the graduate level, how much you know isn't quite so important; rather, it is how well you can synthesize information and use all the resources around you. Science is not conducted in a vacuum (unless you're a rare physical chemist, of course). In research, cooperation is often beneficial to all parties: the brilliant ones get their names on lots of papers and the grad students are eventually allowed to get their PhD. Scientific meetings, happy hours, and hall-chats are, in theory, about bouncing ideas off of other people. Remember, the idea behind the Woodward-Hoffman rules was scribbled down in such a setting. Teaching undergrads the skills of mutual cooperation, instead of clawing their way to the top, may ultimately lead to better science and scientists. Regardless, I look forward to hearing about your creative solutions to these conundrums.